The Washington Nationals came to terms on contracts with catcher Jesus Flores and infielder Alberto Gonzalez before the midnight deadline to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players. Terms of those contracts were not released.
The interesting similarity between Flores and Gonzalez is that they are both represented by Scott Boras.
The Nationals also non-tendered catcher Wil Nieves and pitchers Joel Peralta and Chien-Ming Wang.
Wang is a possibility to be re-signed and continue his rehabilitation process for less than he would have been due in the arbitration process. The organization could also bring back Nieves as organizational depth and work with the stable of pitchers at AAA Syracuse, as Wilson Ramos is expected to battle Flores, who appears to be healthy, to back up Ivan Rodriguez.
Peralta is a little bit of a head-scratcher, as he fashioned a line of 2.02 ER and 0.796 WHIP with 49 Ks in 49 IP. As a veteran though, he probably would have earned a bigger raise that the Nats would hope to slot a "long man" in the bullpen.
The Nationals tendered contracts to their five other arbitration-eligible players: outfielders Josh Willingham and Michael Morse, starting pitcher John Lannan, and relievers Sean Burnett and Doug Slaten.
The Nationals and the players have until January 18 to either come to terms or exchange arbitration figures to an independent panel that will rule on their cases in before spring training.
The problem for Peralta is that he was so unexpectedly good that at his age he has nowhere to go but down. Fortunately, relief pitching is now the one area of strength for this team.